Hot Flashes News

THURSDAY, July 16, 2015 – Older women who fit more minutes of heart-pumping exercise into their week will lose more body fat, a new study shows. Canadian researchers found that postmenopausal women who got five hours of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise every week – double the normally recommended amount – lost significantly more body fat within a year than women who exercised less. "More is better. That's definitely what we found here," said study author Christine Friedenreich, a scientific leader in the department of cancer epidemiology and prevention research at Alberta Health Services-CancerControl Alberta, in Calgary. "If you can do more, you will do better." The U.S. National Institutes of Health currently recommends that adults get at least two hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week, the authors noted in background information. Previous ... Read more

TUESDAY, June 9, 2015 – A postmenopausal woman who is 50 and still shows "normal" readings on her bone density test may not need her next such test for 10 or even 15 years, a new study finds. However, researchers led by Dr. Margaret Gourlay of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill stressed that younger women who do show signs of bone loss are at high risk for a major fracture, and do require regular testing. The study involved almost 4,100 postmenopausal American women between the ages of 50 and 64 who took part in the ongoing Women's Health Initiative study. All of the women had undergone a bone mineral density test to assess their risk for fractures and osteoporosis. The women were not taking hormones, calcium or vitamin D supplements. They also had never had a broken bone, the team said. The results: Among women whose tests showed no signs of osteoporosis, it took nearly ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, June 3, 2015 – Women taking menopausal hormone therapy to relieve symptoms such as hot flashes often hope it will also help their menopause-related memory and thinking problems, but a new study reports it won't. However, oral hormone therapy was linked to mood benefits, the research found. "Hormone therapy is not a panacea, as it was once portrayed to be," said study researcher Carey Gleason, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. "On the other hand, it is not a poison." Previously, the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Memory Study ''suggested that hormone therapy was associated with cognitive harm for women age 65 and older," Gleason said. That study also found increased risk of heart attack, strokes and blood clots in postmenopausal women, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). Today, ... Read more

TUESDAY, June 2, 2015 – Vitamin D and calcium supplements don't help ease the symptoms of menopause, a new study says. The research is part of the Women's Health Initiative, a long-term clinical trial of menopausal women, and included more than 34,000 U.S. women between the ages of 50 and 79. The women were followed for an average of nearly six years to track more than 20 menopausal symptoms, such as hot flashes, fatigue, sleep problems and emotional problems. Half of the women took daily vitamin D and calcium supplements while the others took placebo pills. The average number of menopausal symptoms in both groups was the same – slightly more than six. Also, both groups had similar scores on overall measures of sleep problems, fatigue and emotional well-being, according to the study. The results were published June 1 in the journal Maturitas. "Our study suggests that women should not ... Read more

MONDAY, May 18, 2015 – Hormone replacement therapy to relieve menopausal symptoms may raise the risk a bit for serious lower intestinal bleeding, a new study suggests. In the 1990s, millions of American women turned to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to help ease the symptoms of menopause. But the results of a landmark study called the Women's Health Initiative, released in 2002, found that long-term use of the therapy increased women's risk for breast cancer, as well as their risk for heart attacks and strokes. Use of the regimen fell dramatically soon after. Now researchers say HRT's propensity for clotting, linked to heart attacks and strokes, may also lead to bleeding in the lower intestine. "HRT is an effective treatment, but it does come with risks," said lead researcher Dr. Prashant Singh of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Singh said the risk of any one woman ... Read more

TUESDAY, March 10, 2015 – There's yet another study looking at the potential dangers of hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptoms, and this one supports the notion that the treatment may not help women's hearts. The research, a review of collected data on the issue, found that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) does not protect most postmenopausal women against heart disease and may even increase their risk of stroke. Also, the findings suggest that the harms and benefits of hormone therapy may vary depending on woman's age when she started the therapy, explained study lead author Dr. Henry Boardman, of the cardiovascular medicine department at the University of Oxford in England. "This 'Timing Hypothesis' may be the critical key to the use of HRT," agreed one expert, Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of women and heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "For ... Read more

FRIDAY, March 6, 2015 – Hormone replacement therapy for women may not be as potentially risky as previously thought, a new Mayo Clinic review contends. The new study, which evaluated three decades of prior research, concluded that hormone therapy to treat symptoms of menopause doesn't increase overall risk of death or the risk of death from heart attack, stroke or cancer. "This is the latest update of the current evidence," said lead author Dr. Khalid Benkhadra, a research fellow at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "I can say there's no risk of dying from any reason because a woman is taking hormone replacement therapy." The results, Benkhadra said, should allay concerns of some women with debilitating menopausal symptoms who have feared taking hormones. But not everyone is sold on the safety of hormone therapy. Heart and cancer doctors who reviewed the new findings said that ... Read more

THURSDAY, March 3, 2015 – Women who start having hot flashes at a younger age may be at increased risk for heart disease, according to two studies conducted by the same team of researchers. One of the studies also found that women who have more frequent hot flashes during a typical day may be at raised heart risk. Led by Rebecca Thurston, of the University of Pittsburgh, the studies found that women who begin experiencing hot flashes earlier in life appear to have poorer function of the lining of the blood vessels than those who have hot flashes at a later age, or not at all. Impaired function in the blood vessel's walls – called reduced endothelial function – is the earliest sign of heart disease, the researchers noted. "Hot flashes occur at a time in a woman's life when her risk for heart disease increases," said Thurston, who is an associate professor of psychiatry, psychology and ... Read more

MONDAY, Feb. 16, 2015 – Menopause-related hot flashes and night sweats aren't a short-term problem. More than half of women experience these unpleasant change-of-life symptoms for seven years or more, a new study finds. "Women should not be surprised if their hot flashes last a number of years," said lead researcher Nancy Avis, a professor of social sciences and health policy at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. Four out of five women experience hot flashes and night sweats in the years before their periods cease, leaving some with almost 12 years of unpleasant symptoms, the study found. And women who could pinpoint their final period reported symptoms persisted for an average of 4.5 years afterward. The findings, published online Feb. 16 in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest a need for "more research on safe and effective ways to relieve these symptoms," Avis said. ... Read more

THURSDAY, Dec. 18, 2014 – A new study suggests a possible link between certain menopause symptoms – moderate to severe hot flashes and night sweats – and higher rates of hip fractures and weaker bones. Hot flashes are common during menopause, affecting about 60 percent of women. The hormonal changes during menopause also affect women after menopause, since they then face a higher risk of weakened bones and osteoporosis. "Our findings suggest women who exhibit moderate or severe menopausal symptoms are more likely to have issues with bone health than their peers," study co-author Dr. Carolyn Crandall, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a news release from the Endocrine Society. "This is the first large cohort study to examine the relationship between menopausal symptoms and bone health in menopausal women." While the ... Read more

FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2014 – Women who live with young children may be less likely to suffer hot flashes after going through surgical menopause, a new study suggests. The finding, published recently in the journal Menopause, followed a small group of women who had their ovaries removed because they were at high genetic risk of ovarian cancer. Most of the women had already gone through menopause, but 48 had not – which meant the surgery caused an abrupt menopause. In that group of women, those with a young child at home tended to have less severe hot flashes and night sweats, according to the study. "This is a very interesting study that raises some important questions," said Dr. Jill Rabin, an obstetrician/gynecologist who was not involved in the research. One of those questions is whether the hormone oxytocin offers some protection from hot flashes, according to Rabin, co-chief of ... Read more

THURSDAY, July 24, 2014 – Drinking caffeine may worsen the hot flashes and night sweats that affect roughly two-thirds of women as they go through menopause, new survey data suggests. "While these findings are preliminary, our study suggests that limiting caffeine intake may be useful for those postmenopausal women who have bothersome hot flashes and night sweats," said researcher Dr. Stephanie Faubion, director of the Women's Health Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. But caffeine – a stimulant found in coffee and colas – appears to have a different effect on women beginning the transition into menopause (known as perimenopause). In their case, caffeine might boost their mood, memory and concentration, the survey suggested. The findings, published online July 23 in the journal Menopause, stem from a Mayo Clinic poll of more than 1,800 menopausal women conducted between ... Read more

THURSDAY, July 10, 2014 – Slimming down may help ease the hot flashes that often accompany menopause, new research suggests. Hot flashes can be debilitating for more than 50 percent of menopausal women, said Dr. Taraneh Shirazian, an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. About one-third of menopausal women experience more than 10 hot flashes a day, and she added that hot flashes are more common in obese women. "Fat appears to function as an insulator, and interferes with heat dissipation," explained Shirazian, who was not involved in the study. Another expert, Dr. Jill Rabin, co-chief of ambulatory care and women's health programs at North Shore-LIJ Health System in New Hyde Park, N.Y., said estrogen can also be produced in fat tissue. Rabin said she has found that obese and ... Read more

THURSDAY, June 5, 2014 – Women who experience premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, won't necessarily suffer from hot flashes when they go through menopause, according to a new study. However, women who have PMS are more likely to report other common menopause complaints, such as memory and concentration problems, the researchers found. "We were not able to detect any clear association between menopausal hot flashes and previous PMS," said study researcher Dr. Tomi Mikkola, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland. "However, women with PMS are more likely to experience impaired quality of life when entering menopause," he said. The study was published recently in the journal Menopause. PMS refers to a group of symptoms linked to the monthly menstrual cycle. It occurs about one to two weeks before the period starts. Symptoms of PMS ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, May 14, 2014 – Early menopause may increase a woman's risk for heart failure later in life, especially if she is a smoker, a new study suggests. Researchers analyzed data from more than 22,000 older women in Sweden. Those who experienced early menopause (ages 40 to 45) were 40 percent more likely to suffer heart failure than those who went through menopause in the normal age range of 50 to 54, the investigators found. For every one-year increase in the age a woman began menopause, there was a 2 percent lower risk of heart failure, according to the study in the May 14 online edition of the journal Menopause, which is published by the North American Menopause Society (NAMS). The risk of heart failure was highest in current or former smokers who had early menopause, the researchers found. Current or former smokers who went through menopause only somewhat early – ages 46 to 49 ... Read more